Listen live

Olympic champ banned for test rules violation

Shawn Crawford, the 2004 Olympic 200 metres gold medallist, has been banned for two years for failing to give anti-doping officials his whereabouts for testing.

The 35-year-old was part of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) national testing pool from 2001 through the beginning of 2013.

He was required to provide his whereabouts for out-of-competition testing, but failed to do so three times in an 18-month span.

"Crawford failed to comply with the whereabouts requirements and, as a result, accrued three whereabouts failures within an 18-month period," USADA said in a statement, adding that three failures in an 18-month period constitutes a doping rule violation.

Crawford's two-year ban began on Wednesday, the date he received the sanction.

But he will be stripped of any results achieved from November 17, 2012, the date of his third "whereabouts failure".

A whereabouts failure for athletes in the testing pool includes failure to provide quarterly whereabouts filings and/or failure to be available for testing due to inaccurate or incomplete information provided by the athlete.

Crawford, known for such colourful escapades as racing a giraffe in 2003, had a dream season in 2004, the year he led a US sweep of the men's 200m medals at the Athens Olympics.

He crossed the finish line a distant fourth in the 200m final at the 2008 Games in Beijing, but was promoted to the silver medal after compatriot Wallace Spearmon and Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles were disqualified for running out of their lanes.

Crawford, however, gave his silver to Martina, who would have been the first Olympic medallist from his country.